Boys’ perfect season comes to an early end

Brookings-Harbor High School junior David Daniels tries to boot the ball past a diving Cottage Grove goalie in Tuesday's round-of-16 playoff loss.

The injury woes began with three minutes remaining in the first half when Brookings-Harbor High School’s senior goalkeeper Carlos Lira was kicked in the eye.

Lira made a save on a well-shot ball just before being kicked just above the eye by Cottage Grove senior Jay Kyle. Kyle was given a red card and ejected from the game, but the damage was done.

“I think it made us want to work a little harder,” junior David Daniels said. “We wanted to win it for Carlos because he couldn’t be here.”

The desire seemed to be in effect but the injury troubles started piling up. Daniels, Nels Johnson, Jay Sharp, David Joyce and others all spent time on the bench because of injuries during the 1-2 loss that killed the Bruins’ chance at a perfect season.

“It was a very tough loss, especially when you dominate the entire game,” Head Coach Gabriel Anaya said. “We had our chances, but you’re at a disadvantage when you don’t have your starting lineup like that.

“We knew this game would not be easy. We had good looks, they just weren’t able to get the ball in.”

The Bruins kept the game scoreless through 80 minutes of play and gave up the first goal with 5:25 remaining in the second half of two 10-minute overtime periods.

According to freshman Sean Colbert, who replaced Lira, he was able to get a hand on the ball but it got by him to score.

The second goal for the Lions came with three minutes remaining in the same period on a long-distance free kick that sailed over Colbert’s head and into the net.

The Bruins’ lone goal was scored by Derek Hodge after a well-placed corner kick by Alex Anaya allowed him to get his head on the ball with two minutes remaining in overtime.

The Bruins had one shot left with three seconds remaining in overtime but were unable to put it in the net.